David B Abrams

Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Professional overview

Dr. David Abrams' career focuses on systems and social learning frameworks to inform population health enhancement. He has experience in testing theory, research design, measuring mechanisms of behavior change and outcome, and evaluating clinical trials (behavioral and pharmacological). His interests span topics from basic bio-behavioral mechanisms and clinical treatments to policy across risk factors and behaviors (e.g. tobacco/nicotine; alcohol, obesity, co-morbidity of medical and mental health), disease states (cancer; cardiovascular; HIV-AIDS), levels (biological, individual, organizational, worksite, community, global, and internet based), populations and disparities. His interests converge in the domain of implementation science to cost-efficiently inform evidence-based public health practice and policymaking.

Through transdisciplinary and translational research strategies, Dr. Abrams provides scientific leadership in tobacco control. His current focus is in strengthening global and United States tobacco and nicotine management strategies. Deaths of 1 billion smokers are estimated by 2100 caused overwhelmingly by use of combustible (smoked) tobacco products, not nicotine. Harm minimization is a key overarching systems strategy to speed the net public health benefit of emergent disruptive technologies for cleaner nicotine delivery. The goal is more rapid elimination of preventable deaths, disease burdens, and the widening gap in health disparities driven disproportionately by disparities in smoking.

Dr. Abrams was a professor and founding director of the Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine at Brown University Medical School. He then directed the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Until 2017, he was Professor of Health Behavior and Society at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the founding Executive Director of the Schroeder National Institute of Tobacco Research and Policy Studies at Truth Initiative (formerly the American Legacy Foundation).

Dr. Abrams has published over 250 peer reviewed scholarly articles and been a Principal Investigator on numerous NIH grants. He is lead author of The Tobacco Dependence Treatment Handbook: A Guide to Best Practices. He has served on expert panels at NIH and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine on Obesity, Alcohol Misuse and Ending the Tobacco Problem: A Blueprint for the Nation. He has also served on the Board of Scientific Advisors of the National Cancer Institute (NIH-NCI) and was President of the Society of Behavioral Medicine.

For a complete list of Dr. Abrams' published work, click here.

Education

BSc (Hons), Psychology and Computer Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

MS, Clinical Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

PhD, Clinical Psychology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ

Postdoctoral Fellow, Brown Medical School, Providence, RI

Honors and awards

Research Laureate Award, American Academy of Health Behavior (2014)

Joseph W. Cullen Memorial Award for Tobacco Research, American Society for Preventive Oncology (2008)

Distinguished Alumni Award: Rutgers University, The Graduate School, New Brunswick, NJ (2007)

The Musiker-Miranda Distinguished Service Award, American Psychological Association (2006)

Distinguished Service Award, Society of Behavioral Medicine (2006)

Outstanding Research Mentor Award, Society of Behavioral Medicine (2006)

Book of the Year Award: Tobacco Dependence Treatment Handbook. American Journal of Nursing (2005)

Distinguished Scientist Award, Society of Behavioral Medicine (1998)

Areas of research and study

Behavioral Science

Chronic Diseases

Evaluations

Implementation and Impact of Public Health Regulations

Implementation science

Population Health

Public Health Pedagogy

Public Health Systems

Research Design

Systems Integration

Systems Interventions

Tobacco Control

Translational science

Publications

Publications

Future directions for postdoctoral training in cancer prevention : Insights from a panel of experts

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Informing policy through tobacco regulatory science: an evolving process

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Motivational interviewing versus brief advice for cigarette smokers in residential alcohol treatment

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Noncombustible tobacco product advertising : How companies are selling the new face of tobacco

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Potential and Pitfalls of e-Cigarettes: in Reply

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Promise and peril of e-cigarettes can disruptive technology make cigarettes obsolete?

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The Changing Landscape of Tobacco Control Current Status and Future Directions

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The FDA, e-cigarettes, and the demise of ckombusted tobacco

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Tobacco cessation among low-income smokers : Motivational enhancement and nicotine patch treatment

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Youth experimentation with e-cigarettes : Another interpretation of the data

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A Cost-Utility Analysis of Lung Cancer Screening and the Additional Benefits of Incorporating Smoking Cessation Interventions

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Compensation predicts smoking cessation failure

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Cost-effectiveness of internet and telephone treatment for smoking cessation : An economic evaluation of the iQUITT study

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Engagement promotes abstinence in a web-based cessation intervention : Cohort study

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Geospatial exposure to point-of-sale tobacco : Real-time craving and smoking-cessation outcomes

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Improving adherence to web-based cessation programs : a randomized controlled trial study protocol.

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Menthol cigarettes and mortality : Keeping focus on the public health standard

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Public support for mandated nicotine reduction in cigarettes

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Smoking prevention policies and programs

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A ban on menthol cigarettes : Impact on public opinion and smokers' intention to quit

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A transdisciplinary approach to protocol development for tobacco control research : A case study

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Are smokers with HIV using information and communication technology? implications for behavioral interventions

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Commentary on Wagener etal. (2012) : Laissez-faire regulation: Turning back the clock on the Food and Drug Administration and public health

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Development and reliability of the lifetime interview on smoking trajectories

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E-cigarette awareness, use, and harm perceptions in US adults

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